Join us on our journey of the canals and rivers of Britain's inland waterways.

Thursday, 29 October 2009

Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd September

We upped stiks on Tuesday to continue our way south and cruised past Les on NB Valerie - he was chaperoning NB Heddwyn on what I think was her new owner's maiden voyage (a very good looking redhead). We continued on through lock 71 and found a nice quite mooring close to the canal side village of Hunton Bridge.

We went for a walk around the village and found a great studio who make and renovate stained glass - check out this website - Chapel Studios - we went inside for a 'nosey' - they were pleased to talk to us and show us what they were doing and what they had been working on in the past on renovation projects all over the world. Although I had my camera I forgot to take some photos at the studio but took these of the village buildings.

and the beautiful Grove Bridge - the Earl of Clarendon apparently insisted on an elegant bridge when the canal was routed across his land. The current bridge was restored in 1987.

we ended a lovely day moored above lock 77 at Cassiobury Park. We got up especially early next morning to take a walk in the park before setting off again - I'm so glad we did - it was a fantastic morning the sun very bright and I was pleased with the pictures that I took.

Sunset on 14th at Bulbourne looking towards the lock taken at 6:20pm before we moved off and moored up at Cowroast.

We're waiting for Sam from Foxton Boats to take out the gen-set for repair - he'll be with us on Friday; we'll move down lock 46 and moor up by the houses as there is access to the road from there.

In the meantime we did part of the Chiltern Walk over the hills from Dudswell and down to Aldbury and back to the mooring. It was another beautiful day and the scenery was well worth it - we even saw several groups of deer - tried to get them on camera but they were too fast for me - managed a few seconds of video but they were disappearing into the distance before I managed to see them through the camera!

Apacas - We'd never seen them in person before!

this white one was a real cheeky chappy!

he had to get into all the pictures!told you!!We walked for miles not quite knowing where we were and the came out of the trees to this vista of Cowroast Marina at the bottom of the hill.back into the trees again - a lovely scenethe colours were wonderfulthe village of Aldbury in the distance - time to get back to the towpath on the other side of the village after a lovely walk in the very warm sunshine.

the sky on Friday morning at 5:45 am

and again at 6:15am

Friday - by the time Sam arrived Rock'n'Roll had a 10degree list as the pound dropped dramatically, so as soon as he left we cruised down to Winkwell and found a good mooring just before the swing bridge opposite the Three Horseshoes. It had been quite a morning and we were worn out by this time, so off to the pub for a late steak lunch and couple of drinks, back to the boat and promptly fell asleep! We stayed for a couple of days here walking - we walked into Hemel Hempstead to B&Q for some bits and pieces.our walk from Winkwell into Hemel Hempstead took us past the Fishery Inn

and beautifully manicured lawns

The river Bulbourne runs alongside the towpath on this part of the canal and some of the residents had created lavish gardens using bridges across the river onto a small island and continued their theme onto the towpath - this one was quite stunning.

We decided on Monday 21st to move down to bridge 51 and moor there for a couple of hours while we collected post from the post office within WH Smith and then move on to a more suitable mooring for the night. We collected our post and wandered the shops. We eventually went down a few more locks and finally moored south of lock 69 for the night.

This picture was taken between locks 68 Nash Mills and lock 69; there were other BW boats on the other side of the canal also full of rubbish - is this boaters rubbish I wonder, it looks as if it's been there a long time - I can't imagine the vermin that it attracts.